Well, that would depend on your point of view. He had just 28 catches this season and he is now 35. So, he’s not exactly tearing it up anymore.

Moss also makes it a rule to not speak much with the media.

But when he does it is never boring.

With Super Bowl Media Day Tuesday, Moss had to expand on the usual shrug. Asked about his place in NFL history now that his career is winding down with the 49ers, Moss didn’t disappoint.

“I do think I’m the greatest receiver ever to play this game,” Moss said. He has 982 catches for 15,292 yards and 156 touchdowns in his 14-season career.

Impressive. But not No. 1.

Moss had an answer for that, too. “I don’t really live on numbers, I really live on impact and what you’re able to do out on the field,” he said. “I really think I’m the greatest receiver to ever play this game.”

He will, naturally, get an argument. And, one of the first to take it up was Jerry Rice, who many do consider the game’s greatest receiver.

“Put my numbers up against his numbers,” said Rice, who holds the NFL record with 1,549 receptions, 22,895 yards and 197 touchdown receptions.

Reed told reporters during Super Bowl Media Day he has experienced memory loss that he associates with concussions.

But, he isn’t looking for sympathy for himself or anyone else who has played the game.

“I feel effects from it,’’ Reed said. “Some days, I wake up and I’m like, ‘Where did my memory go?’ But I signed up for it.’’

Reed, a 10-year veteran, said NFL players understand the potential dangers, particularly in the aftermath of Junior Seau’s death. The all-pro linebacker committed suicide, and it was later revealed had brain damage believed to have been caused by repeated concussions.

“Did he sign up for it?’’ Reed said. “Yeah, he signed up for it.

“Junior gave everything he had to football. I’m sure he’s looking down and has no regrets.”

Call it cavalier. Even fatalistic. But it is an attitude that prevails throughout the league, where players have been resistant to changes to make the game safer -- while at the same time admitting it's maiming many, and perhaps as in Seau’s case, killing some of them.

The Super Bowl, as entertainment, may soon be only a lion shy of another epoch when gladiators entered a Roman Coliseum.

There has been increased discussion in recent days about player safety with even President Obama getting involved when he said he’d prefer not to have his children play. That was echoed Tuesday by Bernard Pollard, the Ravens’ own hard-hitting linebacker, who said that he hopes his son won’t fall in love with the game in the way he did: “I don’t want him to play football,” Pollard said. “It’s been good to me ... this is my outlet. God has blessed me with the talent. As fathers and mothers, we want our children to have better than us. If he’s gung-ho on wanting to play, I will let him play. It’s just hard.

"My wife and I talk about it all the time. I know concussions can happen anywhere. I don’t want to see my son go through that.”

FLACCO BITES HIS TONGUE

Well, shut my mouth!

A couple days after his father called Joe Flacco “dull”, the Baltimore quarterback was precisely the opposite.

Out-spoken. Opinionated. Bordering even on the politically incorrect.

Flacco didn’t mince words when asked what he thought about the league’s plans to have next year’s Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

“I think it’s retarded. I probably shouldn’t say that. I think it’s stupid,” he told reporters. “If you want a Super Bowl, put a retractable dome on your stadium. Then you can get one.”

The U.S. Weather Service said the average high in nearby Newark, N.J., on Feb. 2 is 39.8 degrees and the low is 24.2. “I don’t think people would react very well to it, or be glad to play anybody in that kind of weather,” he said.

And, then, reality struck.

He apologized. He thought using the word “retarded” might cause someone angst. “Obviously, it was a poor choice of words. At home, I have a close relationship with Special Olympics. I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I definitely apologize for that,” he said.

Not to worry, Joe. While the term “retarded” can be abusive, in its original form it simply means “slow” or, to “hold back in terms of progress.”

Pheww! He was THIS close to being, perish the thought, controversial!

KAP’S COACH THOUGHT TWICE

Good thing Colin Kaepernick’s college coach had second thoughts.

Chris Ault thought moving Kaepernick to safety might be a good idea.

“I thought to myself, ‘If he can’t play quarterback, he looks like he’s a good enough athlete that he could play free safety or wide receiver,” Ault told FOX Sports Radio. “At that time, Kap was maybe 6-foot-4, about 183 pounds. Built like a fork. He could’ve been a great free safety, without question.”

Ault considered the move because in his first year, Kaepernick had yet to show he would become a No. 1 college quarterback, let alone one that would be capable of carrying a team to a Super Bowl.

“His freshman redshirt year, he was okay. There was nothing that told us he was a special athlete. He threw sidearm a little bit. He’s a great pitcher and he had that little pitching motion from the sidearm. We had to try to push that thing up. But boy, would he have been a heck of a free safety.”

The 49ers might want to remember that. You know, just in case they run a little short of manpower on the defensive side of the ball